Baltimore Opera Company

Study Guide

Roméo et Juliette

Michel Carré and Jules Barbier

The two co-librettists for Roméo et Juliette were a famous "team" in nineteenth century opera.

Michel Carré was born in Besançon on 21 October, 1822. He initially aspired to be a painter, but a lyric talent emerged, and he be became famous in Paris for his poetry and libretti for both operas and opera-comiques. As was the common practice of the day, he collaborated on these libretti, and so the libretto for Les Pêcheurs de Perles was written with his friend Eugène Cormon. However, Carré's most memorable work was in collaboration with his friend Jules Barbier, with whom he wrote the libretti for Gounod's Faust and Roméo et Juliette, Thomas' Hamlet, and Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann. Michel Carré died in Paris on 27 June 1872. His son, Michel-Antoine, was also a librettist, and in later life turned to directing silent films.

Jules Barbier was born in Paris on 8 March, 1825. A noted Parisian Bon Vivant and man of letters, he also wrote the libretti for Massé's Galatée, Thomas' Francesca da Rimini, and Meyerbeer's Dinorah, known today only by way of the famous "Shadow Song" (Ombre légère), long a favorite with coloratura sopranos. He outlived Michel Carre by many years, dying in Paris on 16 January, 1901.

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